


To Be a Fly on the Wall

by trollmela



Category: Miami Vice (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-01
Updated: 2014-01-01
Packaged: 2018-01-07 01:06:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 3,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1113685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trollmela/pseuds/trollmela
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Glimpses into the lives of Sonny and Rico as seen by themselves and those around them. Each chapter can stand on its own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In the Heat of the Night

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter title refers to the Bryan Adams song "Heat of the Night". The song features in episode 3-21 "Knock Knock ... Who's There?", something I did not realize when I wrote this chapter. It has nothing to do with the episode.

Rico was a born New Yorker. With the exception of camping with his family in New Jersey he had never left the area until he had chased his brother's murderer to Miami.

So naturally, while initially quite enthusiastic about the almost constantly good weather, he was not used to the heat. A heat that, these past few days especially, had been particularly humid and stifling

It was Tuesday night. Sonny and he had just finished a 24-hour surveillance. They had driven to the boat and Sonny had suggested he stay the night. Rico accepted and now he was lying in bed at – he glanced at the clock – half past midnight, and unable to sleep.

He had tossed and turned, thrown off the covers in the hope of receiving at least a hint of a cool breeze, he had beaten his pillow – it was all of no use. He felt sticky even though he had taken a shower before turning in.

Rico sighed, closed his eyes and once again tried to find his way into dreams. If this heat turned out to be a regular occurrence, Rico thought, he swore that he would go back to New York. There had to be at least one police department willing to take him.

He huffed, kicking his leg against the covers at the foot of the bed in frustration. The next time he looked at the clock it was past 1 a.m. Sitting up, he gazed with envy at his peacefully sleeping partner.

"Sonny," he called softly, unsure if he wanted him to wake or not. The light snoring subsided; Crocket turned and, in the dark, Rico could just detect the glint of Sonny's eyes as they opened.

"Wha…?" he questioned, still half-asleep. Rico knew that Sonny could wake within a second in case of danger. The fact that he hadn't jumped out of bed and cocked his weapon instantly told Rico how exhausted he was, and he regretted having woken him.

"Nothing. Go back to sleep," Rico sighed, slumping back onto the bed.

But Sonny was not so easily placated. The Southerner sat up slowly, glancing at the glowing digital numbers of the clock on the nightstand.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Can't sleep," Rico replied. "It's the damn heat." He beat his fist against the mattress.

With what sounded like a cross between a grumble and a sigh, Sonny crawled out of bed. He yawned hugely and crossed the room, not in the least embarrassed about his nudity. Rico only noted that this was obviously the way to survive the heat and have a good night's sleep.

Sonny flicked on a dim light situated at the headboard of Rico's bed. Pulling on shorts, he then rummaged around the boat's cupboards. First, he retrieved one of his cassettes, which he put into the small tape recorder. Slow, instrumental music filled the room and Sonny turned down the volume until it was barely more than background noise. Rico was surprised he even had anything like that. Then Sonny went through the drawers until, at last, he came up with a deck of cards. With another, smaller yawn, he bid Rico to shift over and sat down at the foot of Rico's bed.

Eager for any distraction at all, Rico sat up.

"Are we playing Poker?" he asked.

"No." Sonny merely said, shuffling the cards before starting to deal. Rico counted nine.

"Go Fish," the other man revealed.

Rico burst out laughing. "What? We are not seriously playing Go Fish?"

"Yes we are."

"Why not Poker? Or Black Jack?"

Sonny raised an eyebrow. Indicating the room he asked: "Does this look like a casino to you? And besides, I'll have to teach you those games first."

"We do play cards in New York too you know?!" Rico protested.

"Suuuure," Sonny drawled. "Now shut up and play. I don't want to be up all night."

Shaking his head in resignation, Rico picked up his cards.

However Sonny had done it, Rico eventually fell asleep. The next morning he woke late and not even face down slumped over his cards as one might have expected, but resting comfortably on his back with the covers drawn over him. Faintly he could hear Sonny's voice as he spoke to Elvis on deck.

And Rico decided that he didn't mind the heat after all.


	2. Kisses

Their first kiss had not been the start of their relationship. It hadn't even been very special. Mostly it had consisted of lips, wet with liquor, trying to take possession of his companion's mouth – and missing the target for all the alcohol pumping in his blood and making him dizzy.

Thankfully, his partner had had a better sense of coordination, only marginally so, but still enough to correct the path.

Their first kiss had been over in a matter of seconds. They had not made babbled excuses in the aftermath but had simply tried to kill it and all the emotions and sensations associated with it with silence. They had never talked about it.

It had taken three weeks, two days and eighteen hours for their next kiss. Their second kiss had been much more deliberate. Neither had been even remotely drunk, though there was still a small amount of liquor to taste when their tongues had finally, tentatively met.

There hadn't been much more to it at first. However it was that other people thought how relationships started, they hadn't simply fallen into bed and fucked each other senseless. No, because this had been new territory to both of them.

Admittedly, they had fallen into bed that night: closer than they had slept before, but not completely in each other's arms. They had bridged the gap between them with their hands but that had been it.

The kisses had never occurred outside Rico's house. Somehow they had never met on Sonny's boat with those intentions in mind. It had always been Rico's house. Not even the most chaste of kisses had been exchanged outside it – not in the office, not in the car, never on the job and never when they went socializing.

The changes had been subtle and they didn't speak about them. For Sonny, this had been a feat in itself – when he had issues he usually met them head on. But this new facet of their relationship had seemed so fragile that he hadn't wished to tear it with words. But they both saw the changes: Sonny still flirted good-naturedly but there was no intent behind it; neither did Rico seek companionship with another. He sought Sonny. Before, they would either invite each other over straight after work or they wouldn't and then they wouldn't see each other until the next work day. Then, a time came when they went home but then decided they didn't wish to be alone. And Sonny would come over. Or Rico would call and ask him to come.

The kisses came more frequently. They became more heated. Later, they turned more tender. More loving. And they spread. First to the boat. Then to a small strip of isolated beach near Rico's house. They invaded the car and they saw the light of day instead of merely the shadows of the night.

The words came later. First, there were kisses.


	3. Outside View

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a mild reference to episode 2-08 "Bushido"

Castillo knew people. In all his years of working for various government agencies he had learned to assess people and predict their actions. Sonny Crockett did not leave him with a good first impression: just three hours into his job he had been confronted with accusations of bribery against the detective.

In the office, Crockett's desk faced another desk's back where an averagely attractive black man had sat with his legs up on the edge of his desk: his partner, Detective Ricardo Tubbs.

He learned that Tubbs was more likely to lose his head. He was an emotional man who acted on his feelings. Tubbs was the one who had gotten into his face the very next day, questioning whose side he was on before Sonny had led his partner away.

Castillo knew how to lead. He knew that he had to get those people who held the respect of the others on his side. He had seen immediately that Sonny was such a person.

He had read their personnel file. They had only been partnered for a month at the time, yet they seemed to work together far better than others and were practically joined at the hip in spite of their rather radical differences in character. Their solve rate had been exceptionally high. Crockett had earned himself a name in the drug world as Sonny Burnett, a player with a boat fast enough to transport anything of high value and questionable content and Tubbs had just started working undercover as Ricardo Cooper, a man who was regularly looking for a buyer of his "made in the Caribbean" goods.

And, because of everything he knew, everything he had read and everything he had observed about them he should have known that something like this would eventually happen. Theirs was a world where they were unable to keep a wife because of their working hours, and unable to trust anyone unconditionally because it might mean a bullet in their head. He should have known that two men who were this close would fall into this, whether planned or not.

Maybe he should have warned them before anything like this could have happened. Or maybe he should have separated them.

But to tell the truth, he knew that he couldn't have done anything. If there was something the two had in common it was their determination.

And still he had been fairly surprised when he had called one and both had appeared, or he had called Crockett's phone and gotten Tubbs instead or the other way around. At first he had told himself that one had probably just crashed at the other's place for some innocent reason. After all, hadn't he himself given them reason enough? "Stay with him for as long as necessary." Had that not been him who had instructed Rico to do that?

But, eventually, he had to see that he was wrong and all of his fears that he had had deep down were really coming true. And that the reason they were always together was not that innocent at all.

Now it's done and he thinks that maybe he should do something before it is too late. Because one day one of them might stand with a gun in front of the other and threaten to shoot him and after someone has pulled the trigger the remaining one won't know anymore whether it had after all not been worth it.

Or maybe he won't warn them because he knows that, even in the end, after having pulled the trigger it would still have been worth it. That, however, wouldn't make it any better either.


	4. Married

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place during episode 2-02 "Whatever Works". Quotes are in italics.If you asked me for a timeline, then this would be set before "Kisses".

The first time Sonny actually realized something was different about them was during the case of the Santeria cop killer. True, he and Rico had clicked surprisingly quickly, especially for someone whose first meeting had involved fists.

But the day that he really realized that something was different was the evening he and Rico had gone to the club and Laura had come up behind them:

_“Sonny and Rico at the same bar. How lucky can a girl get?”_

That day he had admittedly not had much patience for her. A bureaucratic idiot had impounded his car, a cop killer had been loose on the streets and there had been dirty cops in the very bar they’d been sitting in. For some reason her comment had irritated him; of course he and Rico went to plenty of bars together. Just none that she frequented.

_“Did you guys get married since I last saw you, or can I still get a dance?”_ She continued.

He had sent Rico off with her while he saw to business.

The next night Rico had come around to vent his anger on Sonny about the police car which had been following him as if threatening him. And, when his partner had left, he’d remembered Laura at the bar and he had thought for a long time, gazing at the stars with a cool beer in his hand.

He and Rico often did things together. It had been that way almost from the start. Rico would come in the morning to bring coffee. Or they would go for a drink after work. Nothing special. Had it been different with Eddie? He didn’t think so. Maybe it was Rico who was different. Eddie had been married, and Sonny had had Caroline. Rico was alone, and Sonny wondered if it was by choice. He certainly did not lack admirers and temporary lovers.

The bars. Maybe they were different too. Eddie and Sonny had often frequented bars with colleagues. Rico and Sonny went to bars alone. They were usually small, off the mainstream, with little chance of meeting anyone they knew. Not that either of them didn’t like the flashy clubs. But those were for getting to know women, not for getting to know your partner.

Still – married?

_“Great country, isn’t it Rico? I mean, what more could a guy ask for? A glamorous gig, great people to work with,”_ Sonny gestured at the other man sitting next to him, _“tropical sun…”_

_“And a partner with a Ferrari Jones?”_ Rico asked

They laughed.

_“Alright, I’ll admit it. I’ve been a tad distracted,”_ Sonny said. _“Not to mention, bitter, caustic and angry. But who would want to work with a partner that wasn’t a little bit sentimental? I mean, if they called you back to New York, I’d feel exactly the same way about you.”_

Rico briefly looked up from his newspaper to pop a peanut and give him a stern look. He frowned as if unsure whether to interpret the statement as a good thing or not. After all, he had just been compared to a car. Then again, it was a Ferrari.

Later, when Sonny had his car back, they would take it home together. And then they would drink a couple of beers, maybe go fishing, or just enjoy the rest of the day off. Of course, before that, they would have to clean the car of the bird droppings.

Did that make them married?


	5. Diamonds Are Forever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place after 3-16 “Theresa”.

At night in the marina it glitters at him during hours of surveillance as it lies on the dashboard in its cushion of felt. He considers throwing it into the ocean. But the trouble he has gotten into over the money has kept him from doing it. His bank was furious, hell, even Rico had loaned him some.

He returns to the office late that night. He couldn’t throw the ring away, so he’ll sell it. But not right away. Just for a time, he doesn’t want to deal with it. He opens one of his desk drawers at random and shoves the box in. The rest of the night he spends with lots of coffee and lots of paper work.

The fallout from the fiasco with Theresa does not only have an impact on his personal life but also on his work. The press was involved, and Sonny and Rico need to see whether Sonny’s face is on any of the clips shown on TV. Until then, he has to ride a desk for his own safety. If the IAB allowed it, Rico would perhaps go himself with one of the others to see whether Sonny’s undercover identity had been compromised. If it has, years of undercover work will go down the drain, and even Rico’s cover may be jeopardized. Sonny will have let his partner down. That’s as if he stepped off a cliff and pulled Rico along with him. There’s no excuse for letting your partner down.

The next few days see Rico walking on eggshells around Sonny. It would almost get on Sonny’s nerves if his partner wasn’t so damn polite about it. He isn’t exactly subtle – that is, subtle perhaps to other people; Sonny, though, knows him inside and out; figuratively that is. Yes, Sonny is disappointed, he’s mad, and these days he tends to drink a bit too much. So perhaps it’s a good thing when your partner exchanges your whiskeys with sodas and makes sure you don’t crash your $100,000 car on the nearest tree or your boat on a bridge pier.

He had thought that with Theresa he could finally start a new chapter in his life. He wonders how he could have overlooked her drug addiction. He questions his abilities. He becomes even more cynical than he used to be. But finding his glass filled with water when he’s expecting liquor even though he knows he’s had enough makes him feel better for a moment.

It’s nearly a month later when Sonny is on the phone with one of his contacts. He’s on the edge because it’s only a matter of time until he’ll be back on the streets. By some miracle, none of the cameras had gotten a good look at him and the networks had thus discarded the film material. The department had collected everything and would make sure it didn’t surface ever again.

So, while Sonny is on the phone, Rico is looking for scissors, which he doesn’t find in his desk. So he goes to his partner’s, opens the drawers under Sonny’s curious gaze and finds a pair of scissors under the small box that Rico remembers from when the southerner showed him the ring for Theresa.

Sonny finishes the call and hangs up. He doesn’t look too upset when Rico takes the box and sits down on the corner of Sonny’s desk to open it.

“Didn’t know you still had this,” he says, removing the ring. “Got any plans for it?” He asks.

“Was planning to sell it,” Sonny replies with a shrug. He still feels a pang on seeing it, but it’s not as bad anymore. And he knows that soon he’ll have enough distraction once he’s on his next undercover operation.

The other man hummed his understanding. “I know this small Brazilian who’d give you a good price.”

Curiously he twists the ring and slides it onto his left ring finger. It barely fits past the first knuckle. When he attempts to remove it, it won’t go.

Sonny laughs. “I think you’ll have to keep it now. Since it won’t go off and all.”

“Nah,” Rico chuckles, twisting the ring around enough until it slips off. “I have something that fits me better.”

Reflexively he lifts his hand to his left earlobe and fingers the stud there. Sonny gave it to him after his last one had broken. Sonny thinks that there’s probably a word for the feeling he gets at that moment.

He clears his suddenly tight throat. “So, a Brazilian?”

“Yeah.”

Rico sticks the ring back into its cushion and closes the box with a snap. Sonny doesn’t look at it. The box is suddenly uninteresting compared to the flash of the ear stud he can see just so when Rico turns his head.


	6. Early Mornings

Sonny grunted, satisfied, and sleepily blinked his eyes. A muscled, dark-skinned arm was slung around his body, his own rested low on slim hips with one hand lying on a perfectly curved behind.

A yawn broke through and woke him up fully. A little awkwardly, he turned around to his bed partner and, smiling, wove a hand through curly hair before rubbing a dark shoulder.

Rico murmured something unintelligible and pressed back into Sonny.

“Good morning, lover!” Sonny said, smiling.

“I hate you.” Rico groaned back. “How can you be so awake already?”

“That’s because I’m looking forward to a beautiful day in sunny Miami!”

“You mean a lousy day, spent sitting at a desk doing paperwork or for hours on end in a van doing surveillance on a guy talking about everything and nothing!”

“You gotta relax! You gotta see the positive in everything!” Sonny replied.

“I think I can see your point! And that’s right here in my bed.” Rico turned and tackled Sonny onto the bed.

“Actually this is my bed! My boat, my bed!”

“Right.” Rico kissed him.

And that’s the moment when the phone rang. Rico groaned in disappointment.

“Why is it that your phone is always ringing at the most inappropriate of times??” He questioned, dropping his head face-first into the pillow.

“I don’t know. But I swear someday I’m gonna throw it to Elvis,” Sonny growled before answering it.

His expression went from annoyed to grave and Rico, blinking up at him from his pillow, groaned again.

Castillo, Sonny mouthed. Rico had already expected that.

Finally, Sonny hung up. “We’ve got work.”

“Don’t I know it?!” Rico complained.

Sonny grinned. “Sorry, love. Let’s take a shower, get dressed and go!”

“You know, one day I’d really like to actually enjoy an early morning!”


	7. Ocean Breeze’s Touch

The boat was swaying gently with the waves, miles away from the coast, while the sun was burning mercilessly onto the deck.

Sonny groaned, voice thick with his southern drawl: “Man, I swear, any longer in this sun an’ I’ll be competin’ with your skin color.”

Climbing up onto the deck from the galley, Rico laughed. “I thought you’d be used to the heat by now!”

The darker detective had stripped down to black bikinis while Sonny was dressed in blue shorts.

The blond sighed heavily and stretched. “You mind if I take these off?” He asked, indicating his shorts.

Rico laughed again. “Do what you gotta do, partner. Not like there’s anyone around to see.”

Efficiently Sonny pushed his shorts down and off before lying back down, this time onto his stomach. Rico was enjoying his cool beer just a few feet away, leaning against the railing with his back.

Rico ran an admiring look over his partner’s and, more recently, lover’s golden tanned body.

“See something you like?” Sonny asked. Rico realized that the blond had turned his head towards him and imagined the sea-green eyes looking at him from behind the dark sunglasses.

Rico smiled. “Yeah. You.”

Sonny chuckled as he turned onto his side. “The great charm that makes everyone swoon. Tell me, does this actually work on the ladies?”

“Well, it sure works on you,” Rico laughed and stood up to go to his lover. Gently he pushed him onto his back before touching the blond’s mouth with his own lips.


End file.
